Tag Archives: Manchester

So, after months of wondering who has purchased the Horrockses brand name yesterday it was announced that the brand had been purchased by a company called “Bluewell ventures”, a Manchester based company. Back in April I wrote about my fears/ thoughts about the sale of the brand name which you can read here, and now the sale has actually happened I am not sure how I feel about it.

First off a note of annoyance on the telegraph article (yes I am being pedantic, but that is me all over). WHY newspapers feel the need to attribute EVERY vintage trend popularity to Mad men is completely beyond me, funnily enough there are more things than just mad men that has influenced the way people dress in the last 5 years or so… And secondly, Horrockses are famed for their “50s style dresses”, NO Horrockses were famed for their dresses in the 50s. Tsk, the Telegraph, tsk.

At the time numerous articles were suggesting that major high street retailers such as John Lewis were interested in the brand, but rather than a well known purchaser “Bluewell ventures” (a company formed only in May this year) has stepped in. I am feeling pretty glad that it is a Manchester brand that has purchased the Horrockses name though as this sticks with the Heritage of Horrockses as a Lancashire company and I hope this is remembered as a factor. I hope this also means the potential for garments to be produced in the UK too, as I think the “Made In England” aspect of Horrockses pieces is part of what makes them so special.

So what will happen now? We shall wait and see what the company do with the brand, but the telegraph report seems to suggest a revival of Horrockses as a fashion brand. I hope they remember that Horrockses were renowned for their QUALITY. If they are going to produce clothing again these need to be produced in beautiful cotton that respects the original designs. I would be perfectly happy seing more home items using Horrockses prints, but fashion garments? I’m not so sure that bluewell ventures will be able to do the Horrockses brand name justice, but we shall wait and see…

A few weeks ago I received a rather exciting email regarding Horrockses, and I suppose this blog posts as both a plea for anyone who owns/ has owned certain dresses and also providing some more information on the brand.

Horrockses during the 40s and 50s employed a large number of different designers to create their printed textiles, some such as Eduardo Paolozzi created only a few desings, whilst others, such as Pat Albeck and Graham Sutherland created huge numbers of designs for the company. Some designers, Albeck is a great example, have a very distinctive illustrative style which can be quickly recognised. Although others output and style was more varied. I know that some of the print designers worked on commissions for the fashion designers at the company (a lobster print created for John Tullis by Pat Albeck is a particular favourite of mine).

A typically Albeck design.

Although I have come across a large number of print designers for Horrockses a chance search on twitter a few weeks ago turned up researchers gold.

One of the most special Horrockses I have is one printed with “Elizabeth Regina 1953”. Tht tweet related to this very print. The print was designed by Margaret Meades who worked freelance for Horrockses. Her designs weere mostly used in the early years of Horrockses fashions (late forties early fifties). Margaret trained at Manchester College of Art where on graduating she continued to lecture for many years. Margaret was also a member of the Society of Industrial Artists.

Here are a few more of Margaret’s designs which were kindly sent to me by her daughter. It would be great if anyone has the original dresses, so that they can be compared to her designs.

The print above has to be my favourite by Meades, and is also very familiar, I feel sure I have seen this one before!

If you would like to find out more about Margaret Meades do visit the website

Also! If you have orignal dresses that feature any of the prints i have shown please do send me pics.

liztregenza@hotmail.com

A quick note: All of these designs were sold to Horrockses, but they were not necessarily produced. As I explained in my post for Unmaking things Horrockses always overpurchased on textile designs to retain their design prestige.